Legislative leaders, statewide officials all pushing for more oversight of JobsOhio

Jim Siegel The Columbus Dispatch @phrontpage

Wednesday

Mar 13, 2019 at 6:14 PM

Asked on Wednesday if JobsOhio is working, House Speaker Larry Householder didn’t offer a definitive answer.

“I don’t know,” the Glenford Republican said of the state’s quasi-private economic development entity. “That’s part of our transparency problem.”

With Gov. John Kasich no longer around to protect his brainchild, which he designed as a way for the state to more rapidly respond to business needs and improve job creation, Republican legislative leaders are gearing up to institute more oversight and transparency of JobsOhio.

“I still think it’s a fair question: are we getting out money’s worth out of JobsOhio?” Yost tweeted last week in response to a Dispatch story about new data that cut in half Ohio’s job gains from 2018.

As auditor, Yost for years clashed with the Kasich administration over his role in reviewing the books of JobsOhio, where employee salaries and benefits increased an average of 18 percent last year, including an $87,000 jump for John Minor Jr., the outgoing president.

Last June, the Senate unanimously passed a bill that was amended to permit the auditor's office to play a role in outlining the scope of performance audits and give it access to the work papers produced by private accounting firms conducting audits of JobsOhio.

"JobsOhio is a quasi-public agency that exists to serve a public purpose for Ohioans. The people of Ohio deserve a seat at the table,” Yost said after the Senate vote.

But the bill never got a final House vote. Rep. Steve Arndt, R-Port Clinton, the sponsor of the original bill dealing with equity crowdfunding, said he supported the amendment but “the administration said that if it remained in there, he (Kasich) would probably veto the bill.”

“I fail to understand, if JobsOhio is doing such a wonderful job, why we wouldn’t want to showcase that?” Arndt said.

Faber objected last week when JobsOhio refused to disclose the salary and benefits of its new president, J.P. Nauseef, until it files its required reports nearly a year from now. Prior to this year, JobsOhio was refusing to disclose the total compensation of their employees, instead only reporting taxable income.

Faber said he would happily add a public audit of JobsOhio to his office’s workload.

“I anticipate us doing something like that again,” Senate President Larry Obhof, R-Medina, said of the bill passed last June. “I’ve had some long-term concerns about transparency issues there.”

Gov. Mike DeWine also has indicated support for more accountability from the nonprofit corporation.

JobsOhio officials have argued that, as a nonprofit corporation, it should not be subject to state audits, noting that it already completes an annual performance assessment.

Householder said he’s “always been concerned about the transparency, or lack thereof, of JobsOhio,” and he expects discussions on how to address it.

The nonprofit exists only through state law, gets its revenue from a long-term lease of the state’s liquor operation, and has a board of directors appointed by the governor.

“We fully recognize they’re an independent corporation, but they receive a lot of Ohio tax dollars," Householder said. "It’s important for us to have discussions to see what’s on their mind and why things are the way they are.”

jsiegel@dispatch.com

@phrontpage

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